Registration – Military Education and Empire, 1854-1948

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More than a century ago, at the 1909 Imperial Conference, the Imperial General Staff put forward a proposal for organizing the military forces of the British Empire such that they would be better able to work together in time of war. “It will be noted that education is the keynote … not only the higher education at a Staff College which is essential if the Imperial General Staff is to be composed of a body of officers trained to think alike on all matters of principle, but the preliminary education, by which officers can be so grounded and prepared as to be able to profit from Staff College training …. The necessity for preparatory and higher education is so apparent that its importance need not be further insisted upon.”1 Curiously, the notion that military education is central to effective military forces, particularly in a coalition context, is frequently at odds with what scholars of the military have seen as an anti-intellectualism within the services despite the fact that the most senior military leaders have from time to time spoken strongly for the need for higher education and intellectual capacity.

This symposium will bring together experts in military education and professionalism from around the world to establish a dialogue on the global and imperial interconnections that helped to shape the shared educational experience of the British Empire. We have invited a diverse and exciting group of top-tier keynote scholars from across the Commonwealth: Professor John Ferris (University of Calgary), Alan Jeffreys, (Imperial War Museum), Dr. Ian van der Waag (University of Stellenbosch), Professor Jane Errington (Queen’s University at Kingston), Dr. John Connor (University of New South Wales), Dr.Randall Wakelam (RMC), Dr. Yves Tremblay (Directorate of History and Heritage), Professor Andrew Lambert (King’s College London), and Dr. Andrew Stewart (Royal College of Defence Studies, King’s College London.

In addition the conference organizing committee solicits proposals for papers on all aspects of military learning in the time period examined by the symposium. Topics may include such themes as: civilian control of military education, the introduction of or reforms to military education policies and programmes, the conduct of military education courses, and the impact of conflict and technology on military education. Proposals should include a 200-300 word abstract accompanied by a one-page CV. Proposals should be emailed to [email protected] no later than 30 May 2015.The proceedings of the conference will be published in an edited volume by the University of British Columbia Press.

General Staff, Proposals for so Organizing the Military Forces of the Empire as to Ensure Their Effective Co-operation in the Event of War, 17th July 1909.